


In Hushed Whispers

by Clearnoise



Series: AH Dragon Age AU [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Achievement Hunter Dragon Age AU, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, this is my first fic in quite a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 07:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4555950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clearnoise/pseuds/Clearnoise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How does it happen that an Orlesian Noble at the top of the food chain and a young Antivan orphan end up travelling the world together? Well it starts with a party, and a theft.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How the Rose Grew it's Thorns

Or, more accurately, it starts with a young boy being born to a proud mother and father. This boy’s name was Ray. His father was a blacksmith and his mother a merchant, until they refused to sell a weapon to a thug who tried to threaten them into lowering their prices. Ray was six when he watched his parents die from across the marketplace where he’d been looking at the flowers another vendor had been selling. The little boy stood rooted to the spot as he watched his father leap in front of the man’s dagger to keep it from reaching his wife. He remained immobile as the chilling scream left his mother when her husband crumpled to the ground in front of her, and didn’t move when that scream cut off with a sickening gurgle as her throat was slit open. It wasn’t until the killer had picked up the weapon that he had so coveted, looted the money on the couple’s corpses, and left that Ray spun on his heel and ran the other direction with tears dripping down his face. 

Ray ran for a very long time. He ran for such a long time in fact, that he had become completely lost in the depths of Antiva City and found himself curled up in the back corner of an alleyway for warmth as the sun slipped out of the sky and was replaced by the moon. Days passed, and the boy taught himself how to survive the best that he knew how. He learned to make himself disappear into a crowd, and how to spot the people that wouldn’t notice small hands slipping into bags and pockets to fish out coins and valuables. 

As young as he was, Ray was easily dismissable by the other riff-raff and rabble that made their livings on the streets. All he amounted to was a scrawny kid who wasn’t expected by any to still be alive by the next harvest season. Despite this opinion, Ray did indeed make it to the next harvest, as well as with the next. That was when the other delinquents who had lived in the area for longer than Ray began to feel threatened. Ray himself began to notice dirty looks and intense glares sent his way as he worked the streets and collected money from the oblivious people who milled around. Nearly three years after his parents death, Ray found himself cornered in a familiar alleyway by a group of three boys, all bigger than he was (though that wasn’t very hard. Even at nine years old, Ray was tiny), and all very irritated. They ran this part of the city, and nobody was going to mess with them and get away with it, especially not this runt who looked like he’d fall over if the wind blew strongly enough.

Living this long on the streets, Ray had been in fights before; however, he’d mostly scuffled with the other orphans who were his age. These guys were obviously older, and meaner. He was already planning out how to slip by them before one pulled out a knife and cleared his throat. “Listen here, runt. We’ve left you alone so far, on account o’ you bein so damn small, but now you hafta start earnin your keep around here. See, we run this part of town, and you’ve been messin up our business. So here’s the deal: you give us all the stuff you’ve got on you right now, andris, food, everything except the clothes on your back. And then, from tomorrow on, we get sixty percent of everything you pick up each week until you pay off your debt to us. And we mean everything, got it?”

“And what happens if I say no? I’m barely able to feed myself as it is! You guys don’t need my money! I can leave, just let me squeeze by and we can all forget that this ever happened!” Couldn’t they tell how skinny he was already? The boy immediately regretted his words, however, grunting in pain as one of the thugs moved forward to grab him by the shoulders and slam him up against the wall instead of letting the boy inch past him as he’d been trying to do. 

The original speaker, whom Ray assumed was the leader, grinned. “I don’t think that you understand what I’m saying here. You owe us for the years you’ve spent working our streets, and we are so kindly offering you a way to pay us back. Looks like you need to be taught what happens if you don’t do as we say. Boys?”

Ray bit his lip to muffle a cry as the leader stepped back and the first punch landed on his abdomen, but he couldn’t stop the cry of pain as the second brutal hit was thrown against his body. The young boy struggled as he was beat, trying desperately to worm his way out of the larger boy’s hold. He was nearly ready to beg for them to let him go, to say that he would do anything if only the pain would stop, when a long shadow fell across all of them and a new voice spoke. “I suggest you children scam before I make you. There is no pride in teaming up on someone half your size.”

“Yeah, and who do you think you are, Mr. Wise Guy? This is none of your business and I _suggest_ that _you_ leave.” The leader of the thugs turned towards the man at the end of the alley and sneered, brandishing the knife that he’d threatened Ray with earlier. There was a low chuckle as the man at the end of the alley stepped closer, coming into clear sight. Each of the older children froze as they registered the symbol stitched into the man’s breastplate. He was an Antivan Crow. The boy with the knife was practically shaking in his boots as he attempted to backtrack. “I- I didn’t mean that, I’m so sorry ser, of course, we’ll leave right away ser.” With that, he dropped his knife and ran, while Ray found himself dropped on the ground as the two other goons followed their leader past the Crow and out of the alley as fast as they could go.

Ray groaned softly as he crumpled to the ground. He knew that he should be afraid of anyone who had run off his aggressors so easily, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care after what had just happened. He didn’t even look up until a pair of feet stopped in front of his face and the Crow crouched in front of him. “Hey kid, are you alive?”

Ray nodded and looked up at the man incredulously. “Who are you? Why did you save me from them?” He paused for a long moment, staring at the symbol that the tall man wore proudly. “... Are you going to kill me?” 

“My name is Joel” He raised a brow at the child’s questions. “What’s your name, kid?”

“Ray”

“Well Ray, how do you feel about learning how to use daggers?”


	2. How the Noble Became Bored

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: this chapter is titled "Ryan the Noble Guy" in my google drive

Ryan was born to lord and lady Haywood on a beautiful estate not too far from Val Royeaux. His parents couldn’t be happier as they held the fair haired child in their arms. As Ryan grew older, it became increasingly clear that he would mature to become an accomplished player of the Game. The only problem with Ryan was his affinity for magic, which he was told from an early age that he was to never use. His parents couldn’t afford such a blemish on the family name as a mage. It wasn’t until Ryan was much older, and travelling the world, that he learned to use not only a sword, but his magic in battle. However, even as a small child, Ryan displayed a wit and intelligence beyond any of the other highborn children. The only exception to this rule came when a baby girl was born to the Burtons, another family of Orlesian nobility.

After meeting at a party hosted to be the debut of Mica Burton to the court, the clever young woman became Ryan’s closest friend. They were nearly inseparable from the moment they met, and together they quickly grew out of their parent’s shadows. Several years later, the two of them took the court by storm when the younger of the two became of age. 

Mica had a way of getting people to trust her, her charm and sparkling personality lulling people into a false sense of security. They believed that she was sweet and naive, that she wasn’t someone that they needed to worry about in the grand scheme of things, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. Ryan and Mica used their skills to spin the Game in their favor. The woman made it a point to be at every highbrow party, coercing secrets and juicy bits of gossip out of any noble unlucky enough to be caught in her web. Such secrets were then passed on to her best friend, who had become known to some in the darker parts of society as the “Mad King”. 

Spoken to the right people, the names Mica Burton and Ryan Haywood could instill fear and quiet conversations. Everybody knew that to cross them meant that they would end up gone in one way or another. They were the predators, high up on the food chain and all but untouchable. 

Ryan loved his life. He loved the respect that his mere presence demanded from his peers, and he adored the power that he shared with his closest friend, but he was bored. It was the same thing all the time: go to fancy parties, play the Game, blackmail other nobles into doing whatever he wanted, threatening those that whisper of uprisings against them, gossip all night with Mica, repeat, repeat, repeat. There was the occasional excitement in the form of duels and hunting trips into the plains; however, those things did little in appeasing the restless itch for adventure that had begun to rise within him. 

After long discussions with Mica about what he should do, the pair decided that Ryan would become an ambassador. He would travel around Orlais and the surrounding countries, gathering what information he could from the nobles there. It wasn’t long before Mica was receiving letters from all Fereldan, Orlesian, and Antivan nobles alike, all requesting Ryan’s presence at their gatherings. Mica sent the interesting ones along to Ryan, with notes on what she knew of the people to be attending each event, and the rest were sent a polite refusal letter. 

Several years after they began this arrangement, among rumors and speculation of the Fifth Blight rising in Ferelden, an invitation for Ryan arrived to Mica from one of the merchant princes of Antiva. As soon as she finished reading the letter, Mica sat down at her desk to write one to Ryan. This was the chance of a lifetime.

_Lord Ryan Haywood,_

_I just received a letter from the Antivan merchant prince, Hullum is his name. He wants you to attend his son’s coming of age gala in Antiva City. I don’t think that I need to explain to you how big of an opportunity this can be for us. Don’t fuck this one up by picking fights or anything like that, need I remind you that very few outside nobility are allowed around the princes of Antiva? As for the information that may be useful for you, I have very little. Wealthy and powerful Antivans rarely leave the protection of the House of Crows, so it’s hard to get a read on any of them. Speaking of the Crows, by the Maker, watch your back while you’re in Antiva. We won’t get much from this opportunity if you come back to Orlais in a box rather than under your own power. There will be several faces there that you’ve already met in your travels: Lord Michael “Burnie” Burns, trusted advisor of King Calen in Ferelden, and Lord Gustavo Sorola, son of a wealthy merchant here in Orlais are among those that you’ve spoken to before. Lord Longnose (you know the guy) will be there, and his wife recently bore him a baby boy (hopefully he looks nothing like his father, the poor child). Any other information I find, I will attempt to get to you before the night of the gala._

_Maker watch over you_

_Signed,  
Lady Mica Burton_

Ryan couldn’t help but chuckle lowly as he read the letter. Excitement bubbled up within him as he packed his things the next morning to begin the long ride to Antiva. Something in Ryan told him that this would be the excitement he had been searching for. Before he rode off, Ryan made sure to send a letter back to Mica.

_Lady Mica Burton,_

_I ride for Antiva as soon as I have sent this letter to you. Why do you keep bringing that up? I only got into a fight that **one** time… Ok, maybe two, but that second fight wasn’t my fault! He saw me lose control of my magic, what was I supposed to do, let him tell everyone? Anyways, I promise it won’t happen again. Thank you for the information on who will be there, it will certainly turn out to be an interesting event._

_...I think this is it Mica. What I’ve been looking for, I think this is where I will find it. Maybe I’ll be able to go on that adventure that I wanted after all…_

_Maker give me strength._

_Signed,  
Lord Ryan Haywood._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So at two chapters and over two thousand words, this is already the longest thing I've ever written and published. I hope you guys enjoy the ride with me!

**Author's Note:**

> I want to give a huge shout out to inoka-will-keep-moving-forward on tumblr for allowing to let me use her idea for this fic, and I hope she enjoys what I've done with what she gave me.  
> I really appreciate any constructive criticism, and am trash that will soak up any and all approval, so I look forward to your comments and I hope you enjoy this ride with me  
> Questions? Prompts? Come see my at my tumblr: RyantheNobleGuy


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